"The budget has omitted expenses. The deficit is not 3%, it is at least 6% and this is clearly visible in the set parameters of the debt. Debt is being accumulated through the back door, which is hidden from both our partners and the citizens. (…) Another deficit is being created through the debt."
This categorical position was stated in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio by Kuzman Iliev, financial analyst and chairman of the "Bulgaria Can" party.
"It stings the eyes. It is so obvious that it is even offensive. It is not correct to treat Bulgarian citizens this way. And our partners know that we are playing this tango."
According to him, there is a willingness to relatively quickly adopt the budget, since the public pressure is very great. This budget is a mirror of the loose state of the parliament, there is no stable majority behind it, which is an exceptional risk, he emphasized.
"All those who will support it have one foot in power, the other - outside it."
In Bulgaria, democracy is no longer even a facade. We already have a visible oligarchy, which has different institutions, the leader of "Bulgaria Can" states.
The country may currently run out of money, that is, fall into a liquidity crisis, believes Kuzman Iliev.
"You go to the markets to finance the debt. They say - we will buy it, but with an interest rate much higher than the one you can pay. Bulgaria is facing this - not only a possible, but a probable scenario."
"Control your spending and be very careful with deficits and hidden deficits", Iliev addressed the deputies.
We are poor because we are doing crazy things with energy, we produce few goods and we are killing agriculture, the economist commented.
It is better to have a minimum wage that is sectoral, that is closer to the problem of the specific region, "because Sofia is confusing the accounts", Kuzman Iliev also pointed out.
"The tax and social security burden is growing and it is growing because the state, when it makes large expenditures and the light is red, has to collect its money. The hysteria and panic in the revenue agencies and the Ministry of Finance that the accounts will not come out leads to repression," he said.
Finally, the bombs that politicians are planting will really explode, Iliev warned.
The economist predicts the nationalization of private pension funds because "the hole in the National Social Security Fund is gaping and growing".
"This will be an incredible shock for a large part of Bulgarians and for the investment climate in general. It will be panic, because the hole in the National Social Security Fund can no longer be covered."